Today, public agencies and asphalt producers responsible for roads are experiencing limited available funds together with significant increases in the price of construction operations and asphalt binder. Those concerns are coupled with significant pressure to build, maintain, and rehabilitate “green,” and agencies must look to alternative construction and maintenance methods as well as alternative materials. This work has been carried out in collaboration with Impresa Bacchi s.r.l., and it is finalized in finding out how much the environmental benefits are rehabilitating the base layer of a pavement through cold in-place technology. In a previous study (Brandini, 2013) it was demonstrated that producing asphalt pavements with a major percentage of RAP and using WMA can reduce energy consumption and emissions generation and can conserve natural resources (aggregate and asphalt binder). In this work the most sustainable pavement indicated by the previous study was evaluated: all the activities were compared with conventional means of recycling in-plant, so the difference between the two options analized lies in the rehabilitation phase for the base layer. All the stages of the lifecycle have been considered, from extraction of virgin materials to end of life. The results show that extraction and production of virgin materials have the higher impacts in the lifecycle, mainly due to the presence of bitumen, a petroleum derivate which has high impacts during its production. Application of cold in-place recycling means decreasing the use of aggregate, transport and the consumption of the plant, all these things have benefits in terms of CO2 eq emitted and other indicators. On the other hand impacts from depletion of fossil fuels and ecotoxicity are slightly higher for the pavement recycled in-place, due to higher consumption of bitumen. This study want to highlight that recycling of asphalt pavement may of course significantly reduce natural aggregate use and all the processes associated with it, but still requires further examination not only during the stage of production of the materials used for the pavement, but also at the time of the pavement operating stage.
Al giorno d’oggi gli enti pubblici e le aziende produttrici di asfalto stanno vivendo una situazione caratterizzata da limitata disponibilità di fondi unitamente ad un significativo aumento del prezzo delle operazioni di costruzione e del bitume. Tali preoccupazioni, unitamente ad una significativa pressione a costruire, mantenere e riabilitare le pavimentazioni seguendo l’approccio “green”, spingono gli enti competenti a guardare a metodi di costruzione, manutenzione e utilizzo di materiali alternativi. Questo lavoro è stato svolto in collaborazione con Impresa Bacchi s.r.l. ed è finalizzato a scoprire i benefici ambientali che si hanno riabilitando lo strato di base di una pavimentazione attraverso la tecnologia del riciclo a freddo in-situ. Nello studio che ha preceduto il presente è stato dimostrato che la produzione di pavimentazioni in asfalto con una percentuale maggiore di RAP e l'utilizzo di WMA può ridurre il consumo energetico, le emissioni e può conservare le risorse naturali (aggregati e legante). Nel presente lavoro è stato valutata la pavimentazione più sostenibile indicata dal precedente studio: tutte le attività sono state confrontate con quelle caratteristiche del convenzionale riciclo in impianto, quindi la differenza tra le due opzioni analizzate risiede nella fase di riabilitazione per lo strato di base. Tutte le fasi del ciclo di vita sono state considerate, dall'estrazione delle materie vergini fino al fine vita. I risultati mostrano che l'estrazione e la produzione dei materiali vergini ha gli impatti più elevati durante il ciclo di vita, principalmente a causa della presenza di bitume, derivato del petrolio che ha un alto impatto durante la sua produzione. Riciclare a freddo porta a diminuire l'utilizzo di aggregati, i trasporti e i consumi dell’impianto, tutto questo porta vantaggi in termini di CO2 eq emessa e altri indicatori. D’altra parte le categorie di esaurimento delle fonti fossili ed ecotossicità risultano leggermente penalizzate per la pavimentazione riciclata in-situ a causa del maggior consumo di bitume.
Valutazione della sostenibilità della pratica di riciclo a freddo in situ di pavimentazioni stradali in conglomerato bituminoso
GIANI, MARTINA IRENE
2012/2013
Abstract
Today, public agencies and asphalt producers responsible for roads are experiencing limited available funds together with significant increases in the price of construction operations and asphalt binder. Those concerns are coupled with significant pressure to build, maintain, and rehabilitate “green,” and agencies must look to alternative construction and maintenance methods as well as alternative materials. This work has been carried out in collaboration with Impresa Bacchi s.r.l., and it is finalized in finding out how much the environmental benefits are rehabilitating the base layer of a pavement through cold in-place technology. In a previous study (Brandini, 2013) it was demonstrated that producing asphalt pavements with a major percentage of RAP and using WMA can reduce energy consumption and emissions generation and can conserve natural resources (aggregate and asphalt binder). In this work the most sustainable pavement indicated by the previous study was evaluated: all the activities were compared with conventional means of recycling in-plant, so the difference between the two options analized lies in the rehabilitation phase for the base layer. All the stages of the lifecycle have been considered, from extraction of virgin materials to end of life. The results show that extraction and production of virgin materials have the higher impacts in the lifecycle, mainly due to the presence of bitumen, a petroleum derivate which has high impacts during its production. Application of cold in-place recycling means decreasing the use of aggregate, transport and the consumption of the plant, all these things have benefits in terms of CO2 eq emitted and other indicators. On the other hand impacts from depletion of fossil fuels and ecotoxicity are slightly higher for the pavement recycled in-place, due to higher consumption of bitumen. This study want to highlight that recycling of asphalt pavement may of course significantly reduce natural aggregate use and all the processes associated with it, but still requires further examination not only during the stage of production of the materials used for the pavement, but also at the time of the pavement operating stage.| File | Dimensione | Formato | |
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https://hdl.handle.net/10589/88128